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Friday, October 17, 2014

Vatican City, 17 October 2014 (VIS) –
World Food Day, held on 16 October, was instituted in 1979 by the
United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in order to
raise public awareness and strengthen solidarity in the fight against
hunger, malnutrition and poverty. To mark the occasion, the Holy
Father sent a message to the director general of the FAO, Jose
Graziano da Silva, extensive extracts of which are published below.

“Again this year, World Food Day
echoes the cries of our many brothers and sisters who, in many parts
of the world, do not have enough to eat each day. … Despite the
progress that is being achieved in many countries, recent data
continue to indicate a troubling situation, contributed to by the
general reduction of public development aid”.

“The theme proposed by the FAO for
this year's World Food Day – 'Family farming: feeding the world,
caring for the earth' – highlights the need to begin with people,
as individuals or in groups, to propose new forms and methods of
management for different aspects of nutrition. Specifically, it is
necessary to give greater acknowledgement of the role of the rural
family, and to develop its full potential. ... Indeed, the family
promotes dialogue between generations and provides the foundation for
a true social integration, aside from representing that hoped-for
synergy between agricultural work and sustainability; who, more than
the rural family, is concerned with preserving nature for generations
to come? And who, more than the rural family, has at heart cohesion
between people and social groups?”

“Defending rural communities from the
serious threats posed by human action or natural disasters must not
merely be a strategy but rather a form of permanent action aimed at
promoting their participation in decision-making, at making
appropriate technologies available, and extending their use, always
with respect for the natural environment. Acting in this way can
alter the methods of international cooperation and aid for the hungry
and malnourished. Never more than in this moment has the world needed
unity between people and among nations to overcome the divisions that
exist and the conflicts in progress, and above all to seek concrete
ways out of a crisis that is global, but the burden of which falls
mostly on the poor. … Think of the men and women, of every age and
condition, who are victims of bloody conflicts and their consequent
destruction and misery, the lack of housing, medical care and
education, who lose every hope of a dignified life. We have an
obligation towards these people, of solidarity and sharing”.

“To defeat hunger, it is not enough
to meet the needs of those who are unfortunate or to help through aid
and donations those who live in situations of emergency. It is
necessary, instead, to change the paradigm of aid and development
policies … It is also necessary to change how we understand work,
economic aims and activity, food production and the protection of the
environment. This is perhaps the only possibility for constructing an
authentic future of peace, threatened nowadays by insecurity in
relation to food”.

“The Catholic Church, on her part,
while pursuing her charitable activities in the different continents,
remains available to offer, enlighten and accompany both the
elaboration of policies and their concrete implementation, aware that
faith becomes visible by putting into practice God's plan for the
human family and for the world through that profound and real
fraternity that is not exclusive to Christians, but that includes all
peoples”.

Vatican City, 17 October 2014 (VIS) –
Pope Francis has sent a message to the Italian Catholic University
Federation (FUCI), which is preparing to hold an extraordinary
national conference in Arezzo, Italy, devoted to Pope Paul VI, who
was the Central Assistant of the institution from 1925 and 1933, and
who will be proclaimed blessed next Sunday.

The Holy Father assures the
participants of his spiritual closeness and accompanies them in their
work with three words, the first of which is “studium”. “The
essence of university life is found in study, in the effort and
patience of thought that reveals the importance to humanity of truth,
goodness and beauty. ... Do not be satisfied with partial truths or
reassuring illusions, but welcome an increasingly full comprehension
of reality in your study. Doing this requires the humility to listen,
and a far-sighted vision”.

The second word is “research”,
which along with dialogue is at the basis of the FUCI's study method.
The Pope continues, “The FUCI must always experience the humility
of research, that attitude of silently accepting the unknown, the
other, and of showing openness and willingness to walk alongside all
those who are inspired by a restless yearning for the Truth,
believers and non-believers, outsiders and marginalised. Research
challenges itself continually, becoming an encounter with mystery and
opening up to faith: research makes the encounter between faith,
reason and science possible, enabling a harmonious dialogue between
them. … By this method of research it is possible to attain an
ambitious objective: to repair the fracture between the Gospel and
contemporary life through the style of cultural mediation, an
itinerant mediation that, without denying cultural differences –
instead, recognising their value – becomes the focus of positive
planning”.

The third and final word is “frontier”.
“The university is a frontier that awaits you, a periphery where
the existential poverty of humanity can be received and cured.
Poverty in relations, in human growth, tend to fill minds without
leading to the creation of a shared plan for society, a common aim,
sincere fraternity. Always be sure to encounter the other, to be
receptive to the 'scent' of the people of today, to be imbued with
their joys and hopes, their sadness and their anguish. Do not set up
barriers that, intended to defend the frontier, preclude an
encounter with the Lord. … In today's culture, in particular, we
need to stand alongside everyone. You will be able to overcome the
clash between peoples only if you succeed in nurturing a culture of
encounter and fraternity”.

Vatican City, 17 October 2014 (VIS) –
Benedict XVI will attend the beatification of Paul VI in St. Peter's
Square this Sunday, according to the director of the Holy See Press
Office, Fr. Federico Lombardi, S.J. The Pope emeritus was made a
cardinal by the new blessed, and the ceremony will be attended by
another two cardinals created by the pontiff, author of “Populorum
Progressio”: Paulo Evaristo Arns, archbishop emeritus of Sao Paulo,
Brazil, and William Wakefield Baum, major penitentiary emeritus.

A press conference was held this
morning in the Holy See Press Office to present the figure of the new
blessed and his relevance to the contemporary Church. The speakers
were Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, prefect emeritus of the
Congregation for Bishops; Fr. Pierantonio Lanzoni, episcopal delegate
for the promotion of the memory of Paul VI in the diocese of Brescia,
where the pontiff was born in the town of Concesio in 1897; Fr.
Antonio Marrazzo, C.SS.R., postulator of the cause for beatification
and Fr. Davide Milani, spokesperson for the diocese of Milan, where
Cardinal Montini was archbishop between 1954 and 1963. This
afternoon, Cardinal Paul Poupard, president emeritus of the
Pontifical Council for Culture and Fr. Angelo Maffeis, president of
the Paul VI Institute in Brescia, will speak on Vatican Radio,
accompanied by Fausto Montini, Paul VI's nephew.

Thousands of pilgrims will attend the
beatification and the events linked to it, the first of which will
take place tomorrow, Saturday 18, in the Roman Basilica of the Twelve
Apostles, when Cardinal Angelo Scola, current archbishop of Milan,
will preside at Vespers. At 10.30 a.m. on Sunday, in St. Peter's
Square, the mass of beatification will be celebrated by Pope Francis
and at 9.30 a.m. on Monday 20, in the Basilica of St. Paul
Outside-the-Walls, Cardinal Angelo Scola will celebrate a mass of
thanksgiving for the faithful of the dioceses of Milan and Brescia.